Röd skogsmyra Traditional Cache

This cache has been archived.

semmyb: no longer in place

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Hidden : 5/5/2013
Difficulty:
2.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size: small (small)

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Geocache Description:


Den röda skogsmyrans drottningar och hanar har en kroppslängd på omkring 9 till 11 millimeter och arbetarnas kroppslängd är cirka 4,5 till 9 millimeter. Färgen på huvudet, bakkroppen och större delen av benen är svart, medan huvudets sidor, mellankroppen och övre delen av benen är rödaktiga. Den har kraftiga käkar, mandibler, som den kan tillfoga kännbara bett med. Den saknar gadd, men kan spruta ut myrsyra genom bakkroppen om den blir angripen. Om man blivit biten och myrsyran kommer i såret, kan det svida, men är inte farligt.

Utbredning 

Den röda skogsmyran finns i stora delar av Europa och öster ut till Kaukasus och Sibirien, ofta i skogsområden med en blandning av lövträd och barrträd eller med övervägade barrskog.

ur wikipedia

Formica rufa, also known as the red wood ant, southern wood ant or horse ant, is a boreal member of the Formica rufa group of ants, and is the type species for that group. It is native to Europe but is also found in Britain and North America, in both coniferous and broad-leaf broken woodland and parkland. Workers are bicolored red and brownish-black, with a dorsal dark patch on the head and promensonotum, and are polymorphic, measuring 4.5–9 mm in length. They have large mandibles and like many other ant species they are able to spray formic acid from their abdomens as a defence. Formic acid was first extracted in 1671 by the English naturalist John Ray by distilling a large number of crushed ants of this species.

Nests of these ants are large, conspicuous, dome-shaped mounds of grass, twigs, or conifer needles, often built against a rotting stump, usually situated in woodland clearings where the sun's rays can reach them. Large colonies may have 100,000 to 400,000 workers and 100 queens. F. rufa is highly polygynous and often re-adopts post-nuptial queens from its own mother colony, leading to old, multi gallery nests which may contain well over a hundred egg-producing females. These colonies can often measure several metres in height and diameter. Formica rufa is aggressively territorial, and will often attack and remove other ant species from the area. Nuptial flights take place during the springtime and are often marked by savage battles between neighbouring colonies as territorial boundaries are re-established. New nests are established by budding from existing nests in the spring, or by the mechanism of temporary social parasitism, the hosts being species of the Formica fusca group, notably F. fusca and F. lemani, although incipient F. rufa colonies have also been recorded from nests of F. glebaria, F. cunnicularia and similar species including the Lasius genus. A rufa queen will oust the nest's existing queen, lay eggs, and the existing workers will care for her offspring until the nest is taken over.

from wikipedia

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

pnzbhsyrenq ,oerivq ra fghoor zryyna ebgrean

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


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